Floating anchor and oiler



(N0 Model.)

M. MOOARTHY.

FLOATING ANCHOR AND DILER. No. $78,171. Patented Feb. 21, 1888 QNNNNNNH. PETERS. rhm-Lium m her. Washingiwl. D. c

@Vvtmeooao 4 UNITED. STATES.

PATENT Fries;

MICHAEL MCCARTHY, OF MIDDLETOYVN, CONNECTICUT.

FLOATING ANCHOR AND OILER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 378,171, dated February21, 1888.

Application filed October 13, 1887. Serial No. 252,2i6. (N0 model.)

To ail whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, llIICHAEL MCCARTHY, of Middletown, Connecticut, haveinvented anew and useful Nautical Apparatus, which I denominate aFloating Anchor and Oiler, of which the following description and claimsconstitute the specification, and which is illus trated by theaccompanying sheet of drawings.

This invention consists of a flat bag, made of canvas or other porousmaterial and provided with rigid edges, and adapted to hold oil and tobe held in the water at some distance from the deck of a ship by meansof a rope extending from the apparatus at substantially rightangles tothe surface thereof to the vessel.

The function of the apparatus consists in holding thebow ofthe vesseltowindward when outridinga storm, and consists, also, in casting oilupon the waters some distance to windward of the vessel to which it isattached.

Figure l of the drawings is a perspective view of the apparatus. Fig. 2is a fragmentary front view of the left-hand upper portion of the same.Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the vertical dotted line of Fig. 2.

A is the frame of the apparatus, made,prefcrably, by uniting four ironpipes of equal length, and provided with right and left hand screw threads, respectively, upon the opposite ends of each, with four hollowelbows, the interiors of which are furnished with correspondingscrewthreads, and the exteriors of which are provided with eyes orstaples, to which the ropes B are respectively attached. Those ropes areof equal length, and their outer ends are made fast to the ring C. Therope D extends from that ring to the deck of the ship when the apparatusis in the water, and the rope E extends from one corner of the apparatusto the deck of the ship for a supplementary purpose hereinaftermentioned.

The bag F is composed of two thicknesses of heavy canvas, and ispreferably bound with the cord G, while the two thick nesses arefastened together by the grommets H, of which any suitable number may beused to accomplish the desirable object of holding the two thicknessesof the bag together atsundry points upon their surfaces. The grommets Iare also fastened through the bag F, near its border, on all sidesthereof, and the riveted rings J have their heads united through thosegrommets, while their outer parts encircle the tubes which cempose thefour sides of the frame A. The bushing K, provided on its inner end withthe tube L, and capable of being closed at its outer end by thescrew-cap M, gives entrance for oil to the interior of the bag F. Asupplementary bag,N,may be filled with air or oil and attached to theupper grommets and rings in substantially the same way that the bag F isheld within the frame A.

\Vhen out of use, the frame may be taken apart by unscrewing its pipesfrom its elbows, and the bags may be emptied and folded up with theparts of the frame, so as to occupy a small space on shipboard.

WVhen the apparatus is to be used, the bag F is filled with linseed orother animal or.vegetable oil, and the bag N is filled with oil or otherlike liquid or inflated with air, and then the two bags and the frameare assembled in the relative position shown in Fig. 1.

The mode of operation is as follows: iVhen the vessel is hove to withits head to the wind to outride a storm, the frame and the bags attachedthereto are cast overboard at or near the bow of the vessel. The rope Disretained on board, and the bagNiioats upon the top of the water, whilethe frame A and the bag F are submerged in such a position that theplane of the frame is at right angles to the direction of the rope D. Asthe wind drives the vessel to leeward, the rope D is made taut, and theapparatus, not being materially affected by the wind, is not driven withthe vessel, but remains at whatever distance off the how the length ofthe ropeD will permit. While the apparatus remains in that position itpowerfully resists the leeward motion of thevessel, and thus acts likean anchor in the water. Atthe same time oil exudes through the meshesand pores of the bag F and rises thence to the surface of the water,where it powerfully tends to allay the waves. In serving like an anchor,the apparatus operates to keep the vessel out of the trough of the sea,and in serving as a distributer of oil some distance off the bow of thevessel the apparatus operates to diminish the violence of the advancingwaves before they reach the bow of the ship. when the apparatus is nolonger needed overboard, the rope side of the frame A by means of IOO Dis slackened and the rope E is pulled, and the apparatus is thus broughtto a horizontal position upon the surface of the water, whence it iseasily hauled on board.

The bag N maybe omitted and the position of the apparatus near thesurface of the water be maintained by its own buoyancy. So, also, thebag B may be lashed to the frame with ropes, instead of being heldthereon by rings, and the grommets which hold the two thicknesses of thebag F together may be omitted, though I prefer to use those grommets andthose rings.

The size of the apparatus should be adapted to the size of the vessel towhich it is to be attached, and I calculate that one having sixteensquare feet of surface 011 each side is large enough for a vessel of ahundred tons, and that apparatus of correspondingly larger sizes willhold correspondingly larger vessels out of the trough of the sea.

I claim as my invention-- 1. A floating anchor and oiler consisting ofaflat bag, made of canvas or other porous material and provided withrigid edges and adapted tolrold oil; and to be held-in thewatcr at somedistance from the deck of a ship by means of a rope extending from theapparatus at substantially right angles to the surface thereof to thevessel, all substantially as described.

2. The combination of a rigid frame and a flat bag, made of canvas orits equivalent and adapted to hold oil, and removably fastened withinthe frame, so as to operate therewith and be detachable therefrom, allsubstantially MICHAEL MCCARTHY.

Witnesses:

ALBERT H. VALKER, HENRY L. RICKARD.

